CHAPTER 18
As usual, thank you, @AngelLilica, @ChiToNaru-san, @XHaquaX-san and @cool11girl-san for your comments and votes!
And also thank you to @HarukaNanami5-san,thanks for adding this story into your library! hope you also enjoy reading this story!
CREDITS TO: UTA NO PRINCE SAMA
CHAPTER 18
In a peaceful evening, a surprise crashed the whole male students' dorms like a thunder.
Since they shared the same kitchen to prepare their meals, they all were so used to bump into each other to the point of all of them knew STARISH members' cooking habits.
Syo and Otoya were typical school boys who enjoyed eating normal foods so they always ended up eating together with other students, chatting so loud and you could see why they always ended up going late to school.
Natsuki and Cecil were supposed to emit a chummy aura like Otoya and Syo if it was not because of Natsuki's mad cooking and Cecil's weird talk about Muse and magic. Nobody would dare to approach the kitchen once they could sense Natsuki's dangerous presence. Ironically enough, the used-to-be-cold Tokiya was the one who always ended up helping Natsuki with his cooking after the stove exploded mysteriously.
Meanwhile, Masato and Ren are like a pair of unsolved cases. As a scion, they have numerous servants at house so it made senses for everyone if they thought that those two childhood friends could not cook to save their life. But what happened was polar opposite. They are insanely good at cooking and the best cook in STARISH.
While Tokiya, previously, he always emitted an ominous and purplish aura even when in fact, he just cooked vegetables or anything healthy to eat with a poker face.
But not in that evening. Everyone was utterly in shock when they bumped into him in the kitchen. Ichinose Tokiya who would shed tears only when Hyuga sensei assigned him to act in a tragic play as his assignment was currently crying like a weed.
Of course nobody dared enough to ask what on earth was wrong with him. The most caring thing they could do was informing Otoya so that the red head would be the one who comfort his best friend.
But when Otoya quickly rushed off to the kitchen...
"Tokiya, look at you! You look like a.." Otoya's words were cut short when he saw his roommate was stirring a big pot of curry. Obviously, Tokiya did not cook for himself like always because apart from the amount itself was too much, Otoya knows how Tokiya hates curry which is ironically Otoya's favourite food.
"Tokiya, what are you doing?"
"I am cooking," Tokiya answered while sniffing loudly.
"But, why are you crying?"
"I am not crying!" He raised his voice, emphasizing the fact."It's just that... these onions killed my eyes. It stung!"
Otoya deadpanned.
That's it? Onions stung his eyes!? What the heck!? Those guys should directly ask Tokiya instead of asking me to see Tokiya by myself. This freaking blue head... I am worried about nothing!
"How come STARISH members love curry so much when in fact, it contains high calories and not to mention these freaking onions.."
"Wait, Tokiya! What are you doing? Calm the hell down!" Otoya restrained Tokiya's hand from chopping the unused onions right in front of him into ugly shapes. "Please don't let it out on the innocent onions but... did you just say.. STARISH? By chance, are you cooking for us?"
Otoya knew he just hit the nail on the head as he could see the blushed face of Tokiya.
"Well, Haruka said that the feeling of making everyone smiles is indescribable so she says, I should try it for you guys... wait, Otoya! Don't feel touched yet. I still don't know either my curry will be delicious or not."
It was even mortifying for him to admit that he even met Haruka this morning to ask her for a curry recipe which all STARISH members love to eat.
"It's okay! What matters the most is you want to cook for us. That's so sweet of you, Tokiya!" the red eyes looked at Tokiya in admiration and Tokiya could swear that he just saw some weird sparkles from the red eyes. "I must tell everyone..."
"What!? Don't!"
"Eh? Whyy?"
"Don't ask."
"Could it be.. you want it to be a surprise for everyone?"
Again, the red head hit the nail on the head as Tokiya suddenly collapsed like a jelly out of shock. An exaggerated reaction that you can only find in anime.
Just how many Haruka around him for crying out loud? Dealing with her who could read him like an open book was mortifying enough, let alone Otoya who he was so cold with.
"No. Now, shut up and let me finish cooking," Tokiya finally managed to stand after collapsing dramatically a few seconds ago.
"You want me to lend a hand?"
"No, thanks."
"Why not?? You are mean, Tokiya!"
"I am mean because you are being annoying."
"Mou..."
A few minutes passed....
"Tokiya, you are such an eyesore right now! Just let me help you..." Otoya could not stand the sight of Tokiya stirred the meat in the pot while still shedding tears out of sting but his words were cut by a sudden appearance of a shiny knife right in front of his eyes.
"Don't. Touch. Anything," his blue eyes looked intimidating as the aura of foreboding suddenly emitted from his body.
"You are so stubborn, Tokiya! Like a mule!" Otoya was utterly frustrated with Tokiya's sickening perfectionism. The blue head was way too persistent with his intention to cook it by himself because apparently, it would make the curry special even not in seven hells he wold admit it.
"Hey, don't lump me with that animal! Geez, you just won't shut up, won't you!? Take this!" Tokiya shoved a spoon of curry into his roommate's mouth.
It was a short silence as Otoya chewed slowly with his roommate observed him in anticipation.
"How's it?"
"It's.." Otoya found it hard to describe the taste of his roommate's curry with words because to be honest...
It's tasteless!!! What do you think you are doing, Tokiya!!? Otoya really wanted to shout of dejection. As a hard-core fan of Japanese curry, he has tried different curries in different places but so far, Tokiya's cooking is the most disappointing ever.
But, from the way Tokiya stared at him so intently, the red head knew his roommate could not accept any pejorative answer from him.
"It's good," Otoya forced a smile.
"It's tasteless," Tokiya deadpanned.
A few seconds passed without any single word coming from them. Otoya's mind just registered the fact that Tokiya himself said that the curry was tasteless, in unison with his polar opposite comment.
"Huh?"
"It's. Tasteless," with a poker face, Tokiya added more curry powder into the pot, much to the red head's shock. "God, Otoya. I did not put enough curry powder yet and you still think it is tasty!? What's wrong with your taste bud!?"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault! You should stop the glare already, Tokiya! You looked like you would stab me if I didn't say something good about your curry!"
Again, a silence. For some reasons, because of a curry alone, it made them speechless for many times.
"Otoya, are you perhaps... are you afraid with me?"
"You just realized that now!?" Otoya shouted spontaneously, sending the blue head flinched. "Geez... you should know from the start how intimidating you are, Tokiya. Everybody keeps saying that your voice is beautiful even when you acted cold but for me, once you get angry, you look like you will commit a massacre. Honestly, your voice doesn't suit your brutal personality."
"That's why I try to make up for all those things that you told me.." with the single line, it managed to make Otoya quiet out of guilt.
Damn! Me and my big mouth!
Suddenly, the kitchen emitted an awkward aura, much to Otoya's restlessness.
"You should go back to the room. It will take a while for me to finish cooking," the calmness from Tokiya's voice sounded creepier than usual.
"Okay!" Otoya was glad that he had a solid reason to leave the kitchen. So, he left Tokiya like greased lightning.
"It's tasty, Ichinose!" A single comment from Masato just made the blue head let out a sigh of relief.
"It's so yummy!!" Syo and Cecil shouted in unison.
"Oi, Tokiya! Why is my curry so tasteless!?" Otoya shouted to the blue head. At this rate, a tasteless curry would be a new fear for the red head.
"Ehhhh? I thought that you like it tasteless? Did you just say it's good for it to be tasteless?" Tokiya deadpanned but for Otoya, it was the most insulting face expression that he ever gained.
"You are so mean, Tokiya!"
"Because you are being annoying!"
"Those two sure have a weird chemistry, right?" Ren commented while stirred the hot curry. He just felt entertained to see Tokiya and Otoya bickered and started listing each others' bad habits in their room.
"Yes. Just like in the future, they always squabble but when they are in tough situation, they end up finding each other for a comfort," Natsuki responded, bubbly.
"Speaking about the future..." Tokiya managed to attract their attention while pushing Otoya's face away so that the red head would not yell at him anymore. "Can you guys tell me about what happened.. I mean, everything about how STARISH was supposed to be founded... what happened after we debuted and so on.."
Expectedly, the six of them smiled chummily. Tokiya could somehow guess that they were generating their own clouds of flashbacks.
"Well, long story short, Lady is the one who founded STARISH since she thought that our voices would create a wonderful melody," Ren responded.
"How did you guys meet her?"
"I met her during the entrance exam.. she was late and the security guards did not want to allow her to sit for the exam so I kinda helped her to convince them. Then, during entrance ceremony, we found out that we are in the same class and since then, I got closer with her. I was in lo.. No, I mean, I was impressed with her talent and determination.. Not to mention, she has a very great personality, " Otoya continued, followed by a nod from Ren.
"She was late because she helped a lost child so I also joined Ikki helping her. But the reason why I chose Lady to be my partner because she saved me afterward. I was in a state of rebellion because of my family to the point of I was almost expelled from this academy. She complimented my singing and convinced me to continue my studies here. You know what? I ripped my lyrics and I believe the wind had blew them far away but somehow Lady could find them. Our Nanami Haruka is awesome, right?"
"Yeah," Tokiya smiled awkwardly. Well, he did think that Haruka is awesome but after the 'Haruka-suddenly-barged-in-on-his-life-and-knew-everything-about-him' saga, he did not think 'the-lyrics-searching' part is surprising. "What about you, Shinomiya-san?"
"Well, I like her because she is cute like my dog, Elizabeth. Furthermore, I think that Haru-chan is the only one who can accept me for who I am."
"I see.." honestly, it never crossed Tokiya's mind that a cheerful and good-natured Natsuki would suffer a split personality disorder.
"How about you, Syo?"
"Eh, me? I think my reason is the same like Natsuki's. Nanami understands how I really want to become Hyuga sensei. How I idolize him since she is Hayato's fan. Moreover, that girl is clumsy. She always asked for trouble so I really wanted to protect her at that time."
"Not to mention that you also love her," Tokiya mumbled but only Natsuki which is just right beside him could hear him.
"What are you mumbling, Tokiya?"
"Nothing, Syo," suddenly, Tokiya's blue eyes averted towards another blue eyes. "I am curious about Hijirikawa-san though..."
"Eh, why me all of sudden?" Masato's eyes widened in horror.
"I don't know. I am just curious."
"Haruka used to have problem when playing piano because her hands would not move out of anxiety. Moreover, other students made fun of her since she could not read music at that time. That's why Masato helped her," Cecil suddenly interrupted and had fun telling Tokiya about Masato.
"That's very nice of you, Hijirikawa-san," Tokiya smiled chummily.
"Nah, nothing mu.. Wait, Aijima! You were definitely everywhere, right!?"
"Such a creep," Tokiya clicked his tongue towards as he gave the prince an insulting look. "I think I don't even need to ask this Kuppuru boy about his history. He definitely would start flapping his gums about Muse, black cat and how he also really wanted to turn Haruka into a black cat like him so that they could produce more black cats.."
"That makes sense, Ichinose. I agree with you,. This guy should be a black cat forever and being treated worse than a stray cat," both blue heads suddenly radiated a bully aura, much to Cecil's panic and others' amusement.
"That's mean, Tokiya, Masato! I like Haruka because of her music. Her music saved me from the curse!"
"Then, what happened next?" Tokiya turned to others, seeking for the next story, followed by Masato. They totally ignored Cecil.
"Then we started to gain popularity since every single of our solo project were top-notch. Syo-chan was casted in Prince of Fighting with Hyuga sensei (Tokiya's blue eyes widened out of amazement because every single soul in this school knows just how fanatical Syo can be when it comes to Hyuga sensei), Masato-kun succeeded a role in a famous theater and you, Tokiya-kun.. you appeared in an advertisement to promote STARISH by singing Crystal Time," Natsuki replied.
"Speaking of Crystal Time, do you guys remember that it was the same day when we were supposed to watch the fireworks together with Nanami?" Otoya suddenly brought up the question that never met an answer.
It was all because the late Tokiya's secretive and crafty personality especially when it comes to his feeling to Haruka.
"Hm? What's wrong with that?" Tokiya blinked questioningly as he could somehow guess that this watching-the-fireworks-thingy is one of important events for STARISH, considering their current facial expression.
"Yeah, I remember that! Tokiya, at that time, you said that you wanted to invite her to watch fireworks but for some reasons, you guys arrived late. Where the hell did you bring her to when the rest of us waited for you like morons!? For heaven's sake, answer me, Tokiya!" As ridiculous as he got, Syo suddenly grabbed the collar of Tokiya's shirt before shaking it vigorously. To make it worse for the innocent and current Tokiya, Masato, Cecil and Otoya also started surrounded him with an 'I'll kill you' look.
"Wait, where did that come from? How am I supposed to know!?" Tokiya cried, pleading for a mercy.
"You better tell us now, Ichinose.." Masato gave him a death glare. Something he would never expect from his 'twin'.
"Wait, Hijirikawa-san.. You too?" Tokiya felt a sudden betrayal since Masato was on his side a few minutes ago.
"Serves you right, Tokiya. Even your so-called twin also can betray you whenever he feels like it.." Cecil smirked as he felt a sudden satisfaction.
"You guys should rephrase your words so that Icchi will understand," Ren sighed, suggesting that those four souls were being absurd. "Obviously he has no idea what the heck are you guys talking about."
"Tokiya-kun, what they meant was if let's say that you are the late Tokiya.. if Haru-chan was so stressed out about the songs for Utapri award, if she became restless because she was afraid that STARISH would be disbanded, what would you do to cheer her up?"
"Well..." Tokiya averted his gaze to somewhere else as he tried to come up with an answer. "I will ask her for a date and listen to her concerns," he answered them as he felt bad for them to wait for him.
Or to be exact, the late Tokiya.
"Saw that coming. No wonder Icchi refused to answer it till the end," Ren smirked. From the start, he had this hunch that there was something happened between Tokiya and Haruka on that festival day.
"Wait! All this time, you hadn't ask him about this and now, you interrogated me, the sudden victim?"
"Well, most of the time, I would be asked by them to ask Tokiya about this but.. you know yourself, don't you? Either you ignored me or glaring at me so that I would stop talking, just choose one already," it was Otoya's turn to give his roommate a death glare and for the first time in his life, Tokiya felt that Otoya could be intimidating.
"Enough with that look, Otoya!"
After they finally settled down and continued with the story which ended with the night when the late Tokiya died..
"Well, did you find out who is the killer?" Tokiya asked slowly, referring to the late Tokiya's murderer.
"No.. not yet.." Otoya replied in dismay.
"He just vanished off the face of the earth," Syo continued with the same face expression like the red head.
"The bastard wore a mask. Furthermore, both Tokiya and Haruka were injured badly so they had hard time to focus on the details of the culprit," Cecil added.
"But, from the way Lady told us, we concluded that the culprit aimed to kidnap Lady but since Icchi insisted to protect her, the guy killed him instead," even Ren looked calm but his deep voice told otherwise.
"That's why Nanami suffered more than you can imagine. She put the blame on her since the late Ichinose protected her until his last breath," Masato continued as the pain of seeing Haruka suffered suddenly came to him again.
Suddenly, the room which was so chaotic since an hour ago turned silent.
"I think.. that's enough for melancholy already. We are supposed to have fun, right? Come on Cesshi! Take out that thing!" Ren deliberately made his voice louder as an attempt to change the atmosphere. He smacked the prince's back, much to Cecil's slight annoyance.
"That thing!? Are you sure?"
"Yes, 100 percents!"
"Oi, Jinguji! What the hell are you plotting now, huh?" Masato suddenly got angry which automatically gave a sign to the others that Ren has planned something absurd again.
"Come on, Hijirikawa. Don't be such a party pooper. I promise it will be fun."
"When it comes to your idea, it always ended up with something absurd and stupid!"
"I've noticed this for a while but.. is Hijirikawa-san not collected like how everybody sees him?" Tokiya asked, particularly to Syo who was just next to him.
"Yeah, only when it involves Ren because you know.. he can read Ren like an open book and Ren always doesn't make any sense.."
"Are you frigging kidding me!!?" their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Masato's shout and when they paid their attention to them, Cecil already held a large bottle of orange liquid while Masato strangled the smiling Ren. "This junk has made me cross-dressed out of my will and you expect me to join you again!?"
"Hey, don't call my precious drink a junk!" Cecil crossed arms out of dissatisfaction.
"Chillax, Hijirikawa. I just want to introduce some of our weird games to Icchi. Hey, Icchi! Do you see the drink over here?" Ren pointed towards the drink in Cecil's arm. "This drink is a magical water from Agnapolis. It was used by children in the country so that they can have fun with their friends."
"Magical what?" for some reasons, Tokiya found that the word 'magic' is a taboo, thanks to Cecil and his Kuppuru side.
"We will form a circle and take our turn to drink the water. Then, we will act like the opposite of us and that's when we will play Truth and Dare. Since we are in the water's influence, we won't feel embarrassed to do anything. For example, like this guy.." Otoya pointed towards Syo who immediately turned pale. "He is all about manly, tough and cliff, right? But, when we played this kind of Truth or Dare, he suddenly acted cute and even hugged Natsuki's Piyo-chan doll for the whole night."
"Shut up, Otoya!"
"Well, that was weird, considering it coming from you, Syo."
"Tskk, not you too, Tokiya!"
"So, Icchi... are you in?" Ren's smirk just meant one thing.
'If you are brave/manly enough, you should join us.'
Well, why not? Even though STARISH consists of weird members but he still believes in them.
At least, they did not have any intention to kill him.
"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" From distance, Haruka could see how happy and....
Out of character? Obviously because the cool and charismatic Tokiya suddenly turned all bubbly, waving to her while grinning like...
Hayato? Oha-yahho? Plus, he called her 'Haru-chan' instead of 'Haruka'.
Just now, she got a call from Tokiya, saying that he wanted to meet her at their secret rendezvous for no reasons.
"Tokiya-kun, what's wrong? Why did you call me all of sudden..." her words were cut by Tokiya's sudden embrace around her petite frame, making her blushed.
"Haru-chan, where have you been? I miss you so much!"
"You.. you miss me?" her pink lips formed a wide smile out of delight. "But we just met this morning.."
"But I want to see you every second, every minute, Haru-chan... It's sooooo wonderful to have you around."
It should not be surprising for her to see Tokiya blurted out some cheesy lines like that since Tokiya is the type of guy who did have romantic side but the fact that he talked with a high-pitched voice like Hayato, grinning stupidly... she knows that acting like Hayato in his normal days is like a taboo for Tokiya unless...
"Hehe.. Thank you," nevertheless, Haruka still did not forget to be flattered. "But Tokiya-kun, you don't act like your usual self. Could it be.." her eyes widened as she pulled away and finally could see his red face. "You look as pissed as newt! What did you drink, Tokiya-kun? Tell me!"
"Eh? Beats me..." Tokiya rubbed his chin, seemingly deep(?) in thought but instead of looking smart and cool like the usual him, he looked more like a moron. "I think I have drunk something.. Aijima-san gave me a glass of.. I don't know.. it tastes aweful but I remember I only took a few sips.."
Aijima Cecil! She would make sure that she would scold him for giving a weird drink that most probably from his country to Tokiya. Well, Tokiya used to act like Hayato when he had fever since he could not think properly so it did make sense for him to act the same way when he was drunken.
"Does your head feel like spinning right now? Here, how many fingers?"
"It's one, two... six?" he asked back, innocently.
Oh my... he sure is so drunken to mistake two for six, Haruka mentally faceplamed but as she was confused about what to do with Tokiya, she was startled with a sudden and second embrace.
"Tonight, I am soooo veryyyyy extremelyyy happy. I cooked something for everyone since Haru-chan said that to make everyone smiles is the best thing ever. They all said it tastes good. Ah, Haru-chan, have you eaten it? Does it taste good?" His blue eyes met Haruka's in anticipation.
"Yes. It's such a great job, Tokiya-kun. Tomo-chan and Maaya-chan also enjoyed the meal," Haruka could not help but chuckling at his cuteness and excitement. She continued stroking his blue hair, allowing him to continue talking.
"Is that so, Haru-chan? I am sooo happy to hear that," his blue orbs which reflected light from the moon turned sparkling, made him three times more striking than usual if it was not because of his moronic grin. "To make Haru-chan eats a delicious meal is my priority because after all... Haru-chan is important to me."
"Me? Am I important to you?"
The idol automatically nodded while staring admiringly at her.
"Yes, I can't live without seeing Haru-chan every day. Haru-chan is so amazing! You are sooo amazing until I feel that I grow to love you more and more every day. You are the most amazing girl I have ever met. I understand why the late Tokiya protected you. If I were him, I would do the same thing. I would protect Haru-chan even my body would turn into pieces. I must be the luckiest guy in this world because.." Haruka's over happiness as she listened to his bold confession was cut short when she saw the look in his eyes.
It suddenly turned into a dismay.
Not to mention he suddenly mentioned about protecting her even his body would be smashed into pieces....
"Out of seven people who love you, you chose me. I can see that... No, some of them already moved on and started loving another girl but I know they all used to love you so much... It makes me wonder why did you choose me, though.."
"Well, it's because.." she smiled lovingly at him while her delicate hand still caressed his hair. "Do we still need a reason to love someone? I love everything about you and that only matters. My heart chooses you and I believe in my heart, Tokiya-kun."
"But.. don't you realize that they all have their own charms? Ren, Syo, Otoya.. every single of them... but me.." Tokiya obviously felt that he was nothing compared to his friends.
"Tokiya-kun..."
"Haru-chan, please forgive me, okay? I am a boring person. I don't know jokes, I don't know how to make you laugh.. Not to mention, I don't have enough time for us to spend more and more time together.. I will leave you first.."
"Tokiya-kun, please don't say something like that," the tears quickly welled up in her eyes as she knew where this confession was going.
"I only have twelve years to spend with you, with everyone... Yes, I still have a chance to spend time with the guys but I feel so sorry for Haru-chan. Haru-chan will be my wife.. Haru-chan will be there beside me for the rest of my life.. Haru-chan will be the mother of my children.. I want to see my children growing up and have kids as well... But I guess.. when we have grandchildren, only Haru-chan can see them, right? I will no longer be there beside Haru-chan..."
"Tokiya-kun, please.." She pulled him into her embrace. Her tears continued to stream down her cheeks. She never knew that Tokiya could think something like that.
"You know what, Haru-chan? I was thinking, it's better if Haru-chan gets married with someone else. Anyone but me..." as he pulled away from her embrace before smiling with the thought of Haruka would end up with someone else, it just broke her heart more. "If someday, Haru-chan finds a good guy, please tell me, okay? If Haru-chan loves him, just inform me so that we can break off nicely. Don't worry about me. Instead, I want to see Haru-chan be happy with him before I leave Haru-chan.."
"What do you mean?" the golden eyes widened in horror. That was the line that she would never wanted to hear, especially from Tokiya's own mouth. To be in a relationship with him sooner than she expected was like a triumph for her and she did not want anything else for her life. "Why would I love someone else?"
"It's because I will leave Haru-chan.." Tokiya muttered out of guilt.
"Tokiya-kun, look at me," she cupped his face, making sure that his gaze would not avert to somewhere else except to her. "I love you and I want to continue with this relationship even you cannot always there beside me. I have learned about the fact since the beginning and I am ready mentally and physically for it."
"But Haru-chan will.."
She kissed both his cheeks softly, making him speechless.
"I love you, Tokiya-kun. Is that enough? I want and I am going to be your wife. That's my promise."
Slowly, a relieved smile crept over his face before he rested his head on her shoulder.
"I love Haru-chan too... it's so good to hear that Haru-chan loves me..." he closed his eyes, remained silent and Haruka could feel that his body slowly became heavier against her.
"Tokiya-kun?" she patted his back but gaining herself no responses from the blue head.
"Is he sleeping?" she glanced at her shoulder and the soft snore from him answered her all.
Gradually, the warmness that she could feel only when her lover is around hit her again. She would ask the guys to take Tokiya to the dorm for sure but for now...
She wanted to embrace him as long as she could.
That's all for CHAPTER 18! The idea for the curry-cooking scene is actually based on a fanfiction that I have read. I don't remember the title but thanks to the author because that scene inspired me to write the intro for this chapter.
So, do you like it? Please let me know what do you think. Sayonara!
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